NEWS

Rifle—Three finalists are in the running to become the next superintendent of the Garfield Re-2 School District. Two are from Colorado and the third is from Oklahoma. Stacy Houser currently wears two hats in the small town of Aguilar between Trinidad and Walsenberg. Houser is the Superintendent of the Aguilar School District and also a Principal. Brent Curtice is from Craig. Curtice is the Superintendent of the Moffat County School District Re-1. The third and final candidate chosen from the original list of 18 is Patrick O’Brien of Newcastle, Oklahoma. The city of about eight thousand people is in the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area. O’Brien is the Superintendent of Newcastle Public Schools. The finalists will be in Rifle Thursday, February 11th for a tour of the schools and attending the 2016 State of the Community Luncheon. The community will get a chance to meet the candidates that afternoon from 4:30 to 6:30 during a meet and greet at the Re-2 District Office. Final interviews will be conducted on Friday the 12th and a new superintendent will be named the following week. Superintendent Dave Lindenberg has been serving on an interim basis since last August but chose not to apply for the permanent position due to family concerns.

WEED IN HAYDEN

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS—They’re going to be growing pot in the town of Hayden. Voters in the town of about 16 hundred between Steamboat Springs and Craig approved an ordinance in a special election to allow growing operations within town limits. The measure passed with over 52 percent of the vote. In August the Hayden Town Council voted in favor of an ordinance that would allow grow facilities that would sell their product to dispensaries outside of town. Retail recreational and medicinal marijuana sales are not allowed in Hayden. Town officials say they hope the grow-ops will provide tax revenue. Town officials say they may be broke by the end of next year if the financial situation doesn’t change.

COLORADO WOMAN FOUND DEAD IN AUSTRIA

Vienna—The body of a 25-year old woman from Colorado has been found in her apartment in Vienna, Austria. Police in Vienna say the cause of her death is under investigation. Police spokesman Thomas Keiblinger says the woman’s body was found after she failed to show up at the home where she worked as an au pair and her employer called police. Niles Cole, a spokesman with the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, identified her as Lauren Mann. Police and firefighters who forced open her door Tuesday evening found her half-naked body on a mattress in the bedroom. An autopsy is being conducted. Mann graduated in 2012 from the College of Music at CU-Boulder. Spokesman Ryan Huff says the University is saddened by the news of Lauren Mann’s death.